If you are self-employed, a business owner, a freelancer, or retired early, you belong to a very specific group of people who get dealt a raw hand every single year.
Unlike people who work for major corporations, you have to shop for and pay full bore for your own health insurance. Every dollar comes directly out of your family’s pocket. There is no corporate HR department subsidizing your premium, and there is no government safety net writing off your costs. You pay the full, unvarnished retail price.
To make matters worse, you probably rarely even use your health insurance. Aside from an occasional checkup or a minor prescription, your policy mostly sits there—costing you the equivalent of a second mortgage payment every month—just waiting around for a "what if" catastrophe. You are paying a premium price for a product you barely touch.
Because the stakes are so high, you just want to make sure you are doing the right thing. You want a non-biased, objective opinion before you buy a plan. You want someone to look at the paperwork and tell you the truth: Is this actually a good policy, or am I getting ripped off?
But the moment you try to look for answers online, you hit a wall.